1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid-crystalline coating solution suitable for producing a polarizing film and a polarizing film made from the liquid-crystalline coating solution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a liquid-crystalline coating solution 30 which includes a lyotropic liquid-crystalline low-molecular compound 33 for forming a columnar aggregate 32 in a solvent 31 as shown in FIG. 3 has been known (For instance, JP 2006-079030 A).
The aforementioned lyotropic liquid-crystalline compound 33 forms the columnar aggregate 32 in the solvent 31. For instance, when the liquid-crystalline coating solution 30 is cast by flowing on a substrate with the application of shearing stress onto the liquid-crystalline coating solution 30, long axis directions (orientation directions 32a) of columnar aggregates 32 are oriented in a flow casting direction 34. This makes it possible to form a polarizing film using the liquid-crystalline coating solution 30.
In the case where the conventional liquid-crystalline coating solution 30 is used, as shown in FIG. 3, there is, however, considerable nonuniformity in orientation directions 32a of the columnar aggregates 32 after flow casting. As a result, there has been a problem of a low dichroic ratio of the obtained polarizing film.